Thoughts on Penn State situation

Obviously, I got to know Matt Millen when he was the Lions team president and had many issues with him that are well-documented.But it's awful seeing him and other of Penn State's faithful twist in the wind as they struggle with the Jerry Sandusky allegations.There were many, many people involved with Sandusky's foundation. It was a massive entity. It's unfair to suggest they all had any hint of what was going on.As for Joe Paterno, it's impossible to not look at the grand jury indictment and come to the conclusion, regardless of what happens on Sandusky's day in court, that Paterno, and Penn State administrators, who knew of these alleged incidents should be held accountable for not reporting them to law enforcement. There is no defense for it. None.At minimum, he should get relieved of his duties, or forced to resign as football, which is going to happen shortly.There is no other option. That was clear from the very second this broke.

So this sicko molests young men and now every person who was near the situation needs to pay because he molested the boys? I suppose that Sundusky's wife and children should be punished too since they shared a life with the guy. Why is it in our current society that justice seems to be making every person pay? The administrators and head coach aren't the people that committed the crime. Everyone is piling on these people including the police chief, but these allegations came out in the earlier part of the decade so why didn't anyone seem to care back then? I guess that's why everyone sues everyone now because someone always needs to pay.

Yes, the people that Sandusky worked for and with, who were informed of his deviant, evil, criminal behavior are culpable. There is no excuse for not whupping his behind and reporting him to the police IMMEDIATELY. This maniacal fiend was allowed to stalk the campus for years after his suspected behavior. It is easy to surmise that Paterno had an inkling that this devil was at work. They all turned a deaf ear. A guarantee that if the Grad Student had reported to Paterno that it was Paterno's son or Grandson that he saw Sandusky brutalizing, this story would have turned out much differently.

A terrible injustice has happened, and Jo Pa must go. He knew what happened, and bit his lip for years. Even if he has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, he had a moral responsibility to alert authorities to see that justice be served. He didn't. He must be fired, let go, terminated, whatever. I don't care how many football games he has won, his extremely poor judgment enabled a pervert to go unpunished.

Why has the assistant coach who reported this incident to him received no critisism about this whole "moral responsibility"? He reported this incident to his superior, just as Joe Pa did (oh and he phoned his father). So why isn't this guy on the cover of all of the papers and the headline story on sportscenter? Why doesn't the guy that actually saw this happen get any heat for not meeting his "moral obligation"? Why does everyone care so much about the head coach and administrators when the real issue is the fact that some pervent was taking advantage of children. It seems like the head coach and administration are taking more heat than the guy that committed the crime. I get it that they screwed up, but this is just insanity. These people aren't the ones that touched the little boys. Fire them all, whatever, but why doesn't the real criminal get the persicution???? The grand jury investigation of sandusky began years ago and no one cared until now because Joe Pa and the administrators didn't meet their "moral responsibility".

About Me

Pat Caputo is a sports columnist for The Oakland Press. Caputo covered the Tigers from 1986-98, and Lions from 1998-2002 for The Oakland Press before becoming a columnist. Caputo was raised in Birmingham and played baseball and football at Groves High School. His photograph playing high school sports appeared in The Oakland Press. He has won numerous writing awards, including first place in column writing from the Michigan Associated Press and the Michigan Press Association, and from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been named among the Top Ten sports columnists in the nation by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE), and has won honors in four of the APSE's six national award categories. He has garnered top national honors for his column writing and sports writing from the Local Media Association. Caputo, who has resided in Oakland County since he was nine years old, currently lives in Lake Orion. Caputo has a radio show weeknights and weekends on 97.1 FM, The Ticket, which is the flagship station for the Tigers, Lions and Red Wings. He also appears regularly on FOX 2 television on "SportsWorks."